Charcoal-furnace



(No Model.)

J'. BURT.

CHARCOAL FURNACE. No. 276,222. Patented Apr.24, 1883.

n. PETERS. mln-UIMMI, wmiwm m a To all whom it may concern UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN BURT, o nETnorr, MICHIGAN.

CHARCOAL-FURNACE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 276,222, dated April 24, 1883. Application filed October 25, 1882. (No model.)

Be it known that I, JOHN BURT, of Detroit, in the county of Wayne and State of Michigan, have invented new and useful Improvements in Charcoal-Furnaces; and I hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification.

The nature of this invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in the construction of furnaces and retorts for the reduction of wood or peat to charcoal by what is known as the destructive distillation process, whereby the result sought to be attained is performed with economy and certainty, and whereby the waste heat of the -fire employed is utilized for generating steam to run an engine, which may be required at the works.

The invention consists in'the peculiarities of the construction of theparts,theircombinations, and operation, as more fully hereinafter described.

Figure 1 is a perspective View of one of my improved devices, showing the front and one side, the opposite end and side being identical with the front and side shown in construction. Fig. 2 is a top plan view, with the top of thefurnace and the retorts removed. Fig. 3 is acentral longitudinal vertical section of the same.

In the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification, A represents a shell, made, as preferred, of cast or malleable metal.

B represents a heating-chamber of an elliptical form, (shown by black lines in Figs. 2 and 3,) standing centrally between the two sides of the shell, so as to present one side of the ellipse to the front and the other to the rear, whereby the retort-chambers G are formed-one in front and the other in rear of the elliptical-shaped heating-chamber. This heating-chamber may be cast in two or more pieces, which, when put together at their edges, form the elliptical chamber, or in one piece, if preferred, and the shell is constructed with grooves or slides a, which will receive and embrace the points I) of the chamber, so that in case of damage to said chamber it may be removed by hoisting it out, and be replaced by new castings In this there is secured a steam-generator, E,

leaves a space on opposite sides thereof, as

shown in Fig. 3, which is filled in at the top by the cover D. (See Fig. 1.) Each of the retort-chambers (J is provided with a hinged or swinging cover, H. The bottoms or floors 1 of these retort-chambers are inclined from the rearof each chamber to the front, as shown, and in a downward prolongation, J, at the front and rearof the shell are doors K, through which the contents of the retorts are removed from time to time. Beneath these floors and below the bottom of the main bodyof the shell is the fire-box L, provided with the usual feed and draft doors.

In practice the retorts O are filled with the wood or peat to be treated and the covers of such retorts closed tightly, as well as the doors K at the bottom of such retorts. The boiler E is filled, or partially so, with water, and this boiler is provided with the ordinary apparatus, by means of which water is forced into and the steam taken from such boilers, and it is also provided with a safety-valve that is of the usual construction, and which it is unnecessary to describe; Fire is made in the firebox, and is governed iu the ordinary way of controlling the combustion in fire-boxes. The top of the fire-chamber, being formed partially by the inclined floors of the retorts, presents surfaces against which the flame and heat impinge, and by which such flame and heat is carried into the heating-chamber B. In furnaces for this purpose it has been found that the material under treatment would be charred or converted into coal at or near the top of the retort before it was so converted at the bottom, owing to the natural tendency of the heat to rise, so that the top of the retort would be exposed to the greater heat. Hence the great value in my construction of putting the boiler into the top of the heating-chamber is that it may, by absorbing the higher caloric at that point, render the operation or conversion in the retort more equal during its entire length. When the material in the retort has been converted the doors Kare opened to discharge the coal into suitable carts or receptaeles placed under the doors for that purpose, and after being filled they are removed. In order to prevent too much or too sudden contraction orexpansion of the parts by the sudden cooling off by withdrawing the fire, apyramid or pile-0f brick or other suitable substances may be built up from the fire-bed into the heatingchamber, which, under the action of the fire, will become very highly heated, so that on Withdrawing the fire such pile will have stored sufficient caloric to prevent the too rapid cooling down of the parts. If it is desired to save the gas arising from this process'of destructive distillationin the retort-chambers for conversion into wood-alcohol or other chemical substances, a suitable pipe or outlet may be provided for that purpose.

WhatI claim as myinvention is- 1. In a charcoal-furnace, the combination of the oblong furnace A and the removable heating-chamber B, arranged to make a division in said furnaces, thus forming retorts O O on each side of said chamber, substantially as set forth.

2. In an oblong charcoal-furnace, the combination of the removableheating-chamber B, arranged in said furnace, substantially as described, forming retort-chambers, the floors of which overhang the front and rear of the firechamber and incline from the centrally-located heating-chamber to the front and rear to form the top of the front and rear ends of the fire-chamber, as set forth.

3. In a charcoal-furnace, the combination of the heating-chamber B, arranged in the furnace A, forming retorts (l O, and provided with a fire-box, with a steam-generator in the top of said heating-chamber, through which the flue of said heating-chamber passes, substantially as described.

4. A charcoal-manufacturing furnace consisting of an oblong-shaped shell, A, provided with grooves or slides a, an elliptically-shaped heating-chamber adapted to engage with said grooves, whereby the retort-chambers O are formed, oneon each side of said heating-chamber, a steam-generator, E, through which passes the stack F, located in the upper part of the heating-chamber, a fire-box, L, situated below the inclined floors of the retorts, the parts, with their tops, covers, and doors, being constructed, combined, and operating substantially as and for the purposes specified.

JOHN BURT.

Witnesses:

H. S. SPRAGUE, CHARLES J. HUNT. 

